Display-rack.



PATENTED JULY 5, 1904.

J, E. RODS.

DISPLAY RACK.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 12, 1903 RENEWED MAY 31,1904.

NO MODEL.

es 5 es MM ,zzaygg UNITED STATES Patented July 5, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

DISPLAY-RACK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 764,256, dated July 5, 1904. Application filed June 12, 1903. Renewed May 31,1904. Serial No. 210,411. (No model.)

T at whmn it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN E. Roos, a citizen of the United States, residing at'Duluth, in the county of St. Louis and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Display-Racks; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My inventionrelates to display-racks, and has for its object the provision of means adapted to anchor a biscuit-box to a supporting-rack and to open the lid of the box when the same is drawn partly off of said shelf.

With this and other objects in view it consists in the combination, with a rack containing shelves and with a box supported on one of said shelves, of flexible means removably secured to the lid of said box and to the rear edges of an overhead shelf or to said rack and in rear of said box.

It also consists of certain other constructions, combinations, and arrangements of parts, as will be hereinafter described and claimed.

in the drawings, Figure 1 is an end elevation of a portion of said rack, partly broken away, showing said invention in operative and in retracted positions. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of a portion of said rack, showing said invention in operative and in retracted positions. Fig. 3 is a detail vertical section, on an enlarged scale, of a portion of one of said boxes and of a portion of the anchor-chain secured thereto.

It has usually been the practice when opening biscuit-boxes shelved upon display-racks to draw the box outward and tip itdown, supporting the forward edge on one knee of the operator and the rearward lower edge upon the forward edge of the shelf, the operator manually raising the lid, such awkward position being maintained while removing goods from the box. If the customer desired to sample several boxes, each was either wholly removed from the shelf or thrust back into its normal position with lid closed before the succeeding box was opened, causing great inconvenience and loss of time.

The purpose of my invention is to eliminate these inconvenienccs in a cheap and effective manner.

In the drawings, 1 is a frame, preferably of skeleton construction, in which are arranged shelves 2 of any suitable character or number. Upon said shelves are supported boxes or tin cans, respectively, 3 3, provided with lids 3,

hinged in any suitable manner to the rearward upper edges of said boxes. A suitable cord or chain 4 or other suitable flexible means is removably secured at one end, preferably by a screw 5 and button 6, to each of said lids and at the opposite end to the rearward edge of the shelf above the corresponding box or to said frame in a corresponding position, preferably by a hook 7, said chains being of suflicient length to permit of said boxes, respectively, being drawn forward to the front edge of their corresponding supporting-shelves. The object of having said chains removably attached to said lids is to permit of their attachment to new boxes when empty boxes are removed from said shelves and full ones substituted therefor; but, if desired, said chains may be permanently attached to said lids.

In operation when any of said boxes is drawn forward and tilted down said chain draws the lid of said box upward against the forward edge of the upper shelf, which shelf prevents the lid from falling backward. The chain also operates as an anchor-chain to prevent the upper portion of the-box from falling too far forward. The lower end of the open box is supported by the forward edge of the lower shelf, and the box may be left in such position while removing goods therefrom or while opening other boxes. When said box is thrust back into normal position, the lid falls of its own weight or is pushed down by the upper shelf, the slack of the chain dropping in a-loop out of the way behind the box.

I am aware that some efiort has been made to accomplish a similar result by means of levers; but it should be noted that said lever means requires a considerable amount of head room between the top of the box and the overhead shelf, and, further, it is not practical or convenient to remove such lever means from one box to another; nor is such latter means practical from the standpoint of economy of construction.

Having now described my invention, what 1 claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a display-rack, the combination of a frame provided with shelves, a box provided with a hinged lid and slidably supported on one of said shelves, flexible means removably secured at one end to said lid and at the opposite end to the rear of a shelf above the shelf upon which the box rests, said flexible means being of suflicient length to permit of said JOHN E. ROOS.

Witnesses:

WILLINGTON M. BLEWETT, JAMES T. Dawson. 

